The USA’s Campbell Soup Company says by installing a new 2.3 megawatt (MW) solar power system at its Sacramento factory, it will save about $2 million in electricity costs over 20 years, based on U.S Department of Energy forecasts.
Campbell’s announced yesterday it has entered into a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) and Land Lease Agreement (LLA) with American Capital Energy (ACE) to build a ground-mount solar photovoltaic tracker facility on 14 acres on company land adjacent to the factory, which supplies Campbell’s soups, sauces and beverages to ten western states and the Far East.
ACE have previously installed the two largest rooftop solar power systems in North America – the 2.4MW Atlantic City Convention Centre array and GlaxoSmithKline’s 3MW solar farm atop its warehouse in York, Pennsylvania.
Campbell’s will buy 100 percent of the power produced by the Sacramento solar plant, which will account for approximately 10 percent of the factory’s electricity needs. The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) will purchase the Solar Renewable Energy Credits generated by the project.
In welcome environmental news for the California residents and the state’s renewable energy targets, the new facility will cut up to 58 million tons of CO2 emission from the atmosphere over its lifetime.
Brett Buatti, Vice President of Campbell’s Sacramento plant says the benefits will also be seen at a local level.
"The planned solar array will benefit our many Sacramento neighbours. When completed, it will have the equivalent effect, in terms of reduction of carbon, of taking approximately 500 passenger cars off the road each year."
In February this year the global soup giant, owner of brands such as V8, Arnotts and Pepperidge Farm, announced plans to build a larger 9.8MW solar panel-based system on 24 acres at Campbell’s largest plant in Napoleon, Ohio. Utilising 24,000 SunPower solar panels, the system will generate approximately 14.7 million kilowatt hours of clean electricity annually.
